


too good to me

by bvssbot



Category: Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Domestic, Established Relationship, M/M, daniel has a cold
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-06
Updated: 2017-12-06
Packaged: 2019-02-08 02:39:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12854973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bvssbot/pseuds/bvssbot
Summary: 326: daniel is a whiny baby when he's sick so seongwoo gets jaehwan to come take care of himwritten for101 love songs fest





	too good to me

**Author's Note:**

> edit 111217: thank you prompter!! and thank you everyone who read this, hope it wasn't too boring considering how plotless this is  
> title from exid's too good to me

daniel is used to thinking that he's got a strong immune system. sure, he doesn't eat vegetables a lot and prefers sweets to dairy, but he doesn't get sick often and, yeah, he'd say that's a good enough reason to think he's healthy.

so when he wakes up to class one morning, head heavy, nose stuffy and throat sore, it's a surprise.

 

he did feel a bit chilly before going to bed, and his head was throbbing, but daniel just blamed it on the weather and stress. the due date for his sales management group project is looming and daniel isn't sure the project is quite there yet, and the fact that he and jaehan are the only ones in their group who actually put effort into working on it doesn't help the situation either. anxiety has always had a tendency of making daniel physically sick, so it was easy for him to write off his condition on that.

plus, seongwoo clinging to his back as they settled down to sleep warmed him up pretty fast. jaehwan helped too, considering he's even more of a human furnace than daniel is, and sharing a bed with two other men would for sure make you feel all hot even if you're not doing anything remotely sexual.

daniel still thinks he should've seen it coming as he turns on his back and looks to the side to find the bed empty next to him. it's eight in the morning, and he listens to the annoying sound of his alarm for a few long moments, too drained of energy to move and turn it off, but eventually reaches to the drawer and finally hits the stop button. he sniffs and winces at the uncomfortable gross wet feeling under his nose.

"ughh," he groans out loud, rubbing the crust off his swollen eyes and squinting at the screen of his phone as he holds it in front of his face.

he lowers the brightness and quickly skims over the notifications on his lockscreen, most of them not really registering in his mind, and then stares at the clock, thinking about how he has over an hour to get ready and reach his university, and about how he has absolutely no energy to do that. the thought of getting dressed and washing up makes him even more tired.

he considers his options for some time, pushing his palm on the tip of his nose after he sneezes so hard it leaves it ticklish. he never really liked skipping class, the guilt making him feel irresponsible and therefore uncomfortable every time (as it _should_ , his mother says), but daniel doesn't think he'll feel any better if he goes out today. he certainly doesn't want to get his classmates sick or, worse, his lecturers.

 

his plans for the day are decided when he chokes on his spit and starts coughing so hard it leaves his already sore throat hurting. daniel turns in bed, still holding his phone as he wraps the blanket tighter around himself and opens the mail app. he shoots his lecturers a few emails saying he won't attend their classes today, feeling unusually adult-y and responsible but still entirely too sick to function properly.

he chucks his phone on the bed next to him, withdrawing his cold hands under the blanket and shivering with his whole body. he feels hot and cold at the same time, like you always do when you're sick, and his head feels like it's stuffed with cotton. it's hard not to focus on that, but at some point his thoughts drift to other things, and soon enough daniel is out like a light, lulled by his fever and cozy warmth of the thick blanket.

 

he wakes up an hour or so later, feeling even worse than before. he turns on bed again, ignoring the headache and his sweaty back the best he can, and stares at the small ryan plushie seongwoo has gotten jaehwan over a year ago that is sitting on top of their cheap wardrobe. he spaces out, staring into the plushie's dead eyes, before thirst gets him out of bed.

daniel shivers when he's no longer under the blanket, hurrying to put on some sweats and a t-shirt off the floor. in the bathroom, he spends more time looking at the sick reflection in the mirror and trying to stare down his own bloodshot sleepy eyes than he does washing his face.

it's even colder in the kitchen for some reason, which makes daniel promptly set the unusually heavy full kettle to boil and run back to the bedroom to get a thin big blanket they use as covers, wrapping it around himself and tucking the loose ends in so they don't drag across the floor.

he comes back to kitchen, sniffing along the way, and sits at the small table as he waits for water to boil. he's on his third paper towel when the skin under his nostrils starts getting mildly irritated, and it only makes him feel shittier because now he can't even blow his nose. cold water from the sink helps soothe the burn, but it comes back as soon as daniel tries to blow his nose again.

it's still freezing and daniel looks down to stare at his bare feet for a long moment, forgetting about his nose, surprised that he's not wearing socks for some odd reason.

"huh? i did put them on… right?" he mutters to himself, toes curling up.

when he comes back from the bedroom the second time, feet now covered by warm wool socks, the water in the kettle has already boiled. daniel makes himself a mug of hot tea, the herbal one they never drink because it's _nasty_. it does wonders when you're sick, though, hence why they have it in the first place, so daniel is ready to put himself through the anguish of tasting it even though it leaves an even nastier aftertaste in his mouth. daniel thinks he's very brave to do so, not to mention smart.

he does consider getting a cookie or three so he doesn't have to taste gross herbs on his tongue after every sip, but then changes his mind when the mere thought of eating makes bile rise in his throat.

the tea is too hot, so daniel settles his mug on the table and drops his head next to it, moaning at the way the cold surface nicely cools his burning cheek.

 

daniel thinks about going to the bathroom to get meds, some _hardly cough_ or something, but it's hard to make himself sit straight, let alone go all the way to the bathroom and then look for medicine that he's not even sure is there.

"seongwoo-o-o," he whines out loud, realization that he's home alone suddenly dawning on him when no one answers, making him feel even more miserable.

daniel stays still for a few minutes, listening to the sounds of rain outside the window and spacing out. he's not the biggest fan of rain, admittedly, but it is kind of calming. he almost falls asleep, lulled by the serenity, but wakes himself up when the blanket slips off his shoulder. he sleepily reaches out to grab his mug, hot walls of it nicely warming his palms up, and takes a sip.

"oh god," he cringes in disgust, "why did i make this?" he asks himself, placing his mug back on the wet ring from it on the table.

it truly tastes awful, but daniel is reluctant to just pour it down the drain, so he glares at the mug but doesn't touch it.

the awful headache makes his head feel heavy and empty at the same time. daniel props it with a hand on his temple and closes his eyes, wishing he could just drink the damn tea to soothe his sore throat because it hurts to swallow and daniel really hates when the cold is That bad. it's annoying, to say the least. now that he thinks about it, daniel hates being sick in general.

the tea didn't taste that bad anyway, did it?

daniel goes to take another sip from the mug but has to turn his head away to sneeze into his fist first. he does take another sip eventually, and immediately regrets it. nope, _nope_ , it was that bad.

 

daniel thinks about how great it would be if he wasn't alone dealing with his cold. not in a sense that he wants seongwoo or jaehwan or any of his friends to be sick so he (or they?) can relate and bond over the joined misery, no, but so that he has someone to baby him. did he think baby him? no, pft. he meant to support him emotionally, obviously.

 

seongwoo is, admittedly, a mess of a human being most of the time, but he's great at tending to sick people (something he learned from his grandma who used to be a nurse, or something), and he's even greater at babying daniel and jaehwan. daniel remembers that one time jaehwan got down with flu in winter a few years ago, and how seongwoo handled that, taking care of jaehwan with the experience of a professional medic. it left an impression on both daniel and jaehwan, who were then just learning how to take care of themselves in the adult world, where there is no one but yourself that will go to the store to buy cold medicine. unless you have a boyfriend who does that for you even if you don't ask him, that is. daniel and jaehwan sure are lucky.

well, to be completely honest, seongwoo just made jaehwan some soup and gave him meds. at least that's what daniel saw before he had to head out to work, but who knows what kind of ritual seongwoo performed while daniel was wasting away behind the cash register. there was no way seongwoo didn't use blood magic because jaehwan got better in just a few days, and daniel remembers his flu being pretty nasty.

 

seongwoo is in class right now though, and not at home to magically heal daniel with his undoubtedly supernatural powers that he's doing a great job at hiding, and that's a real bummer.

daniel allows himself to sulk childishly, wishing for seongwoo's always cold hands on his burning hot forehead, and for jaehwan to tell him it's gonna be alright or something.

"i'm dyiiing," he cries and lets his arm drop on the table, resting his forehead on it and trying to rub his itching nose on it at the same time.

he glares at his mug a whole minute for no reason, but eventually sits up and takes it into his hands. it did warm him up a bit, after all, and daniel is in desperate need for that. he probably should've put on something warmer than a t-shirt, he thinks.

 

he spends the next twenty minutes like that, shivering from time to time as he sips on his gross tea and tries not to faceplant onto the table and smash his poor runny nose. he feels annoyed and sick and annoyed by the fact that he's sick, but also too tired to move, all at once. but it's not like he can actually do anything that will make him feel better. except take medicine, maybe.

"i should pro…bly do th…" he mumbles, closing his eyes and resting his forehead on his palm, just for a few minutes.

daniel refills his mug once it's empty, reckoning that his throat does feel better after the herbal tea and another mug wouldn't hurt. he finally walks to the bathroom to get medicine after that, hoisting up his blanket over his shoulders.

he decides not to stare at his sad reflection this time and opens the cupboard behind the mirror, blankly staring at the shelves instead. he notices that they're almost out of toothpaste and makes a mental note, that he's sure he will forget about in ten minutes, to buy some.

daniel sets aside his mug, carefully balancing in on the verge of the sink so it doesn't fall, and gets a small red metal box with meds from the top shelf. he opens the lid and physically feels his determination disappear into nothing at the sight in front of him.

there's so much stuff in the box, daniel feels lost and unprepared, completely unarmed and unaware of what's before him, quite literally. he rummages through the medicine and gets out a few packages but puts them right back when both don't seem to be anti-cough or something along those lines. not that he has cough, but, well, at this point daniel is becoming desperate. anything will suffice.

 

daniel drags himself to the bedroom, not before inspecting a few more packages and boxes, all useless in his current situation. he gets his phone from under the blanket once he reaches the bed, almost faceplanting into it as he bends down. he plops atop the blanket gracefully before his legs actually give in, unlocking his phone and staring at the picture of jaehwan he has as his background.

it was taken a few months ago, but daniel remembers setting it up as his wallpaper last week, he thinks, when he was cleaning up his camera roll.

 

there was an open mic night at a restaurant near seongwoo and jaehwan's university (or was it daniel's? no… no, seongwoo and jaehwan's), and jaehwan signed up to perform since, like he's said, he "didn't have shit to do that day". daniel knew it was a lie, because a few days prior to that jaehwan has told him that he had a shitton of assignments due that week. daniel hasn't said anything though, because despite jaehwan being more involved in composing music rather than performing, daniel knew that both were equally important to him. the thought makes daniel in the present smile sappily. jaehwan is going to do great in the industry once he graduates.

he was singing skyfall then, daniel remembers clearly even though his thoughts are all around the place at the moment. he swipes right to the screen that has less icons on it so he can take a better look at jaehwan's face. jaehwan looks mesmerizing, absorbed in his own world, eyes closed as he strums his guitar.

seongwoo was the one who took the picture, actually, daniel recalls. seongwoo's own phone's battery died, so naturally he was using daniel's as he pleased. daniel just laughed into his beer when seongwoo walked closer to the stage and started clowning around, pretending to be a fansite master of jaehwan's. they had great time that night, especially when jaehwan joined them at their table and they all got so drunk they all overslept the next morning.

daniel thinks about how much he suddenly misses jaehwan even though he's seen him approximately eight hours ago, before falling asleep. jaehwan is shit at taking care of himself when he's sick, therefore he will be shit at taking care of daniel, but it would be nice if daniel didn't have to suffer in solitude.

 

he sniffs, wiping at his nose and wincing when snot gets on the back of his hand. he looks around and finds nothing he can use as a napkin, so he just gives up on the idea of getting one and continues on ignoring his runny nose, wiping his hand on the blanket around his shoulders.

he opens up safari and quickly types "what to do when you have a cold" into the search bar. he makes a few typos, but naver gets him. naver always gets him.

daniel scrolls down a bit and opens a random article with a good enough title. he has to re-read it a few times to get it, but the guidelines seem easy enough to follow even for him. sick him. his normal self isn't stupid, pft.

daniel slips his phone into the pocket of his sweats and walks back to the bathroom, checking up on the medicine box again because the article said he could use a spray for his runny nose. he absolutely does not feel dumb because he didn't think of it by himself. being sick isn't easy.

to his delight, he does find a nasal spray after more rummaging, ignoring how a few packets fall on the floor thanks to his careless ministrations. the flacon looks empty at the first glance, and daniel has to hold it in front of the bathroom lamp to see if there's anything left. putting the box with medicine back on the shelf, he holds up the spray and looks at it, but the bright light hurts his eyes and daniel shuts them, groaning. he opens his eyes after a few seconds when the pain goes away and squints, shaking the flacon.

there's a bit of liquid left at the bottom and daniel allows himself to feel hopeful.

he takes off the cap and sticks the nozzle up his nostril, pushing down on the pump and expecting an instant relief because having a runny nose gets real annoying real fast. daniel _needs_ this.

the pump doesn't work for some reason though, and daniel holds the flacon in front of himself. he stares at it in disbelief, pushing down again, and again, hoping that it will work because otherwise he's pretty much screwed. he sure didn't see a second nasal spray in that box.

he twists the flacon in his hand, looking down on it as he pushes on the pump again, harder.

"fuck!" daniel's free hand flies to his face when the spray finally decides to work, shooting liquid right into his eye.

he drops the spray into the sink and hurriedly opens the tap, rinsing both of his eyes for good measure and cursing under his breath until the burning disappears.

he almost slumps down on the floor then, holding onto the sink and whining out loud.

"what do they put in those?!" he asks nobody, glaring at the innocent looking spray.

he does eventually get up when he decides that sulking won't help no matter how much he wants it to help, and finally picks up the medicine from the floor, chucking it inside the box and closing the mirror door once the lid is back on.

he triumphantly throws away the nasal spray, making a face at the small trash can they have in the bathroom as he does so, even going so far to wash his hands. he wipes them on his sweats afterwards and gets out his phone to check for other advice.

 

there's a list of cold medicine in the article and daniel makes a tired noise, opening the cupboard and reaching for the box again. he explores it, occasionally glancing at his phone because it's a bit too hard for him to memorize such things as medicine names right now. or anything at all, actually.

daniel has to look through everything they have a couple of times before giving up. they don't have any of the medicine from the article, nothing that even sounds similar.

"what kind of adults are we even?.." he asks his phone, placing the box back to where it was.

he ends up under the thick blanket, messaging seongwoo instead of looking up other cold medicine on naver because he's given up for sure. yes, this soon, but he's allowed to feel sad and disappointed _and_ bitter, he has a cold. and he really wants to talk to seongwoo. that's his excuse.

 

**daniK [11:08]:**

seongwoo

seongwoo

seongwoooooo TTTTTTTTTT

seongwoo

 

**daniK [11:09]:**

seongwoo TTTTT

seongwooTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

seongwoo o TT

 

**daniK [11:10]:**

ong TTTTT

ongie

ongieeeeeee e ee

 

**daniK [11:13]:**

hyung~~

 

**옹성우 [11:14]:**

niel im in class wat do u want

 

**daniK [11:14]:**

oh

shit sorry i forgot TT

shit TTTTTT

 

**옹성우 [11:14]:**

its ok i can talk ig

did u want sth?

 

**daniK [11:15]:**

i uhhhh got sick

 

**옹성우 [11:15]:**

oh no

 

daniel laughs out loud and regrets it when his condition reminds him of itself, throat too scratchy to feel comfortable. daniel thinks about how he left his mug in the bathroom and groans, but he feels too dizzy to get up.

he sends seongwoo a sad sticker and falls back onto his pillow, pushing the blanket up to his chin as he waits for reply and feels his body decay slowly. seongwoo doesn't reply right away, and daniel absolutely does not spend over five minutes staring at the chat and then five more at his own reflection when the phone locks itself. his eyes fall shut by themselves at some point, though, and he drifts asleep, whole body shivering from time to time.

a notification wakes him up, and daniel startles awake. there's snot running down his philtrum and daniel wipes it with the thin blanket he still has around his shoulders. he'll have to wash it anyway, so _whatever_.

he grabs his phone from where it was lying on his chest and unlocks it, bringing it up to his face and shivering uncomfortably when cold air gets under the blanket.

 

**옹성우 [11:28]:**

shit

sorry

 

**옹성우 [11:29]:**

i dont think i can come home yet TT

i just checked i still have four hours of class tday

 

**daniK [11:29]:**

oh

its okay TTTTTTTTTTTT

just gonna die here by myself i guessTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT TTTTTTT TT

 

daniel proceeds to spam seongwoo with crying stickers, getting sadder and sadder as he thinks about how he'll have to deal with his cold on his own and the suffering he's going to go through. jaehwan will probably be stuck in class until evening as well. daniel really, _really_ wants to see at least one of them, but god hates daniel, apparently.

daniel inwardly apologizes for that thought immediately and locks his phone, throwing it on the bed next to him and turning to whine into the pillow, hoping seongwoo would understand that daniel needs someone right now and decides to ditch class.

daniel knows how childish and selfish the thought is, so that's why he keeps his hands away from his phone. he allows himself to think these thoughts but it doesn't mean he wants to voice them to seongwoo, that would just be unfair.

he almost misses the sound of a new notification, begrudgingly reaching for his phone, hairs on his arm standing up from the cold.

"why is it so freezing in here…" daniel mutters to himself, unlocking his phone.

 

**옹성우 [11:34]:**

i can ask hwannie if hes free?

 

daniel pouts, quitting his chat with seongwoo and opening the one with jaehwan as he thinks seongwoo's suggestion over.

 

**daniK [11:34]:**

jaehwan TTTTTT

 

**킹재환 [11:34]:**

why hello my love

 

**daniK [11:34]:**

are u busy

i mean do you havw class

 

**킹재환 [11:35]:**

nah

i mean i do in ten minutes and then one after that but lol might skip both of those today

 

**킹재환 [11:35]:**

did you want something?

oh wait hyung just texted me

 

**daniK [11:35]:**

i got sick TTTTTTTTTTT

 

jaehwan leaves him on read and daniel patiently waits for him to come back. he turns on the side and stares into the wall absentmindedly, sniffing from time to time to keep nasty snot inside his nose. daniel thinks about how gross he probably looks right now. he sure does feel gross.

a notification gets him out of his wandering thoughts yet again.

 

**킹재환 [11:43]:**

hey fool

did you die

 

daniel smiles faintly and replies with the same crying sticker he's spammed seongwoo with.

 

**킹재환 [11:44]:**

anyway i told seongwoo i'm free for the rest of the day bc apparently otherwise you will die alone so

omw to rescue you

 

that cheers daniel up a bit.

 

 **킹재환** **[11:45]:**

i'll be home in an hour

 

...and that ruins it. daniel whines out loud, throwing his phone behind himself and pushing his face into the pillow as he cocoons himself in the blanket, feeling too sick to stay up and hoping he falls asleep soon.

 

 

daniel wakes up a few hours later. it's still bright outside and even sunny for the first time in the last few rainy weeks.

the sound of something metallic falling on the floor in another room startles him fully awake. he sits up on his bed but the newly appeared headache makes him fall back down. he closes his eyes because the room around him is spinning a bit, groaning and pushing on his right eye with a knuckle.

"hwannie?" daniel calls out, voice nasal.

he suddenly realizes that he can't breathe through it at all anymore. at least it's not runny.

"ugh, this is great…" he mutters to himself, opening his eyes again.

jaehwan marches into the room then. "oh, great, you're awake!"

daniel smiles when he sees jaehwan's annoying face and sits up a bit, the back of his head uncomfortably digging into the wall behind him. it distracts him a bit from how much it hurts inside it.

"hey," daniel says, clearing his throat when his voice comes out too weak.

jaehwan hands him a mug filled to the brim with what daniel assumes is tea, and daniel accepts it wordlessly, trying his hardest not to drop it because _gosh_ , it's hot. the warmth coming from the mug feels kind of nice, daniel can't lie, even though his back is wet with sweat and he feels like he's spent too much time in a steam room.

"how are you holding up, champ?" jaehwan asks, sitting down on the edge of the bed carefully and smirking down at daniel.

daniel shrugs, taking a tentative sip of the tea and making a pleased noise when it's their regular earl grey and not the _absolutely disgusting_ herbal one. daniel doesn't ever want to drink any more of that, no, thank you. he also notices it's his mug, so that means jaehwan must have found it in the bathroom. daniel tries hard to remember if he left any medicine on the floor but can't recall if he's picked it up or not, and soon gives up on thinking, letting out a sigh because his throat feels a bit better with each sips he takes.

he closes his eyes when jaehwan puts a hand on his forehead, brushing his hair away as daniel lightly bites down on the rim of his mug between sips.

 

jaehwan is a shithead and doesn't often initiate skinship with daniel due to his tsundere-ness, - or maybe because daniel is clingy enough for both of them... for all three of them? - but he can be really gentle when he wants to. daniel is trying his hardest not to melt, scooting closer to jaehwan on bed as he sits up and slumps, holding onto his mug and sighing contently. he already feels better, just having someone next to him, and the tea is really nice, too.

and, well, daniel's dizzy and too hot, and can't breathe through his nose, and his throat hurts every time he swallows. but at least he's not alone now.

"i'm making you yukgaejang," jaehwan says, withdrawing his hand. daniel watches it fall into his lap, feeling a smile tug on his lips.

he then wonders if he's able to actually eat. he does feel a bit hungry, but he also doesn't want to put anything in his mouth that isn't liquid. he can sip on the broth, he guesses.

"i don't deserve you," he says, meeting jaehwan's eyes, "seriously, i thought i'd die alone. cold, sick, and alone."

it makes jaehwan snort and daniel shivers visibly as if to prove his point, finishing his tea in a few gulps and giving the mug back to jaehwan.

"wait, are you cold?" jaehwan asks suddenly.

daniel thinks for a moment, sitting up straighter. he doesn't get to catch the blanket before it falls down his shoulders and exposes his back to the cold air of their bedroom. the way he sneezes while wrapping the blanket around himself hurriedly is a good enough answer for jaehwan, apparently.

"why is it freezing in here?.." daniel asks, lying back down.

jaehwan looks puzzled. "is it?"

"are you not cold?" daniel looks up to him, widening his eyes and shutting them closed right away, only for a few seconds, suddenly aware of how swollen they are when he starts tearing up.

jaehwan shrugs, and daniel watches a metaphorical light bulb appear over his head seconds after.

"hey!"

 

daniel winces at the volume. jaehwan really doesn't know how to control his voice sometimes. it's rich coming from daniel, he is guilty as charged, but he's better at the whole indoor voice thing than jaehwan.

"you should do jumping jacks or something to warm yourself up!" jaehwan says, excitement in his voice, looking entirely convincing as he turns to daniel.

daniel hums, considering his options. "would that work?"

"duh," jaehwan rolls his eyes, as if daniel just asked him the stupidest question possible. daniel isn't sure whether it was actually stupid or not. he already forgot what he asked.

daniel stares off into the floor and spaces out. he looks up when jaehwan makes an impatient sound.

"so? c'mon, it'll help."

daniel sighs because he doesn't really want to get out of bed, or move in general, but throws the blankets off himself and gets up anyway when jaehwan reaches his arm out for daniel to grab onto.

daniel almost falls onto jaehwan as he gets up, legs like jelly. jaehwan steadies him, chuckling and patting daniel's back when daniel's chin digs into his shoulder.

"you ok?"

daniel nods, rubbing his eyes and trying to stand straight. it's a difficult task, and he feels even colder now, hugging himself and shivering once jaehwan lets go of him.

"i'll do it with you. let's go, let's go!"

 

daniel nods, shaking his head to wake himself up. he doesn't feel dizzy anymore, but he's tired, and his head hurts. he'd rather go back under the blanket and sleep some more, but if there's a chance doing physical exercise will help him feel better, daniel is ready to suffer.

jaehwan jumps then, looking at daniel expectedly as he does so. daniel does a jumping jack too, a lazy one, barely joining his arms above his head and dropping them right away. he's not so sure it's gonna help, but he does another one, and another one. jaehwan is a big fat liar because he's not doing the jumps with daniel, but daniel focuses on the task instead of calling him out because he doesn't really have much energy for their usual banter.

he's not really counting, and stops after he's done what he thinks were fifteen jumping jacks. if before he didn't have energy, now he's starting to wonder how come he's still alive. he's breathing heavily through his mouth as he plops down on the bed, feeling even more uncomfortable and unwell than before.

 

"better?" jaehwan asks.

daniel hums, not wanting to lie because he doesn't think he's better in any way, but he sure is warm now, so he guesses it did work, _so_ he can't say it was the worst idea ever.

"okay, now get under the blanket."

daniel obediently does so, tucking the end of the blanket under his feet and curling up on his side. he watches jaehwan walk up to the closet and get another blanket from the lowest shelf. it's probably their thickest one, the one they usually use during winter and when the heat system gets fucked up and they're left to freeze to death until whatever problem that there is gets fixed.

daniel lets jaehwan put the blanket around him, watching him with amusement as jaehwan tuts at him exaggeratingly.

"do you need something?' he asks once he's done, hands on hips as he looks down at daniel's cocooned body and nods.

daniel shakes his head, putting a hand under the pillow and curling up on himself yet again.

he sniffs, making a disgusted sound when he has to swallow down the mucus in his throat. his nose feels clearer now though and daniel, relieved, inhales deeply. he smells something, but doesn't get to celebrate the fact that he's breathing again once he recognizes the smell.

"is somethin' burning?" he asks jaehwan with subtle panic in his voice.

daniel watches jaehwan freeze comically before he runs out into the hallway, screaming a "be right back!" as he disappears behind the door.

daniel laughs through his nose, disappointment settling in fast at how it's clogging up again. for the next few minutes listens to jaehwan bang pots in the kitchen, dropping something on the floor again and opening the tap all while cursing loudly. daniel would laugh out loud if he knew his throat wouldn't hurt if he did so, so instead he just lies there, biting down on his lower lip until his thoughts drift away from jaehwan and his misery.

 

now that daniel is resting, he thinks he's feeling a bit better overall. sure, his throat is just as fucked and he can barely breathe through his nose, but he's not dizzy and the headache is starting to calm down. daniel isn't sure what helped, but he guesses all those hours of naps must've done him some good. he's not cold anymore either, and his back isn't as sweaty as it was when he woke up. daniel, in fact, even feels a bit too hot, but not fever hot, he thinks. that's possible, right?

daniel musters up energy to move and when he finally manages to find the strength, gets the second (third?) blanket off himself and lies it on the bed next to him. he appreciates the thought jaehwan put into his grand gesture, but daniel doesn't want to burn alive, he's still young.

everything is calm for some time, and daniel spaces out, closing his eyes but unable to fall back asleep. he tosses and turns but it's all in vain and he's still wide awake after what he thinks must have been ten minutes or so. jaehwan has quieted down some time ago, and daniel, having given up on falling asleep, strains his ears to find out what jaehwan is doing.

he hears steps down the hallway after a few silent moments, and soon enough jaehwan appears in the bedroom again. he has a guilty expression on his face that confuses daniel, but he doesn't get to ask what's wrong before jaehwan speaks up.

"i, might have, kind of, sort of, burned your yukgaejang," he says, scratching the back of his neck.

there's a pause, and daniel sighs.

"'s cool," he mumbles in reply.

it's not that big of a deal, and daniel isn't really surprised. jaehwan isn't the worst in the kitchen because that title belongs to daniel, but he sometimes burns or overcooks food, so it's not something you wouldn't expect from him. daniel does feel a bit hungry but he's still not sure he can handle food at the moment. it's cool.

"i'm still sorry," jaehwan says, looking less guilty than mere seconds ago despite his words, sitting down on bed next to daniel. "you need something, everything's alright? how do you feel on a scale from one to ten?"

daniel is about to say everything is, in fact, alright, even though he'd prefer not to be sick, but then remembers he's kind of struggling to fall asleep and rest is the only cure he can think of right now.

"i'm so sleepy but i already slept too much," he says, sniffing.

he sounds pitiful to his own ears.

he whines anyway, "it sucks."

"oh!" jaehwan exclaims, "i'll make you coffee. it'll help your throat but also keep you up."

it's the opposite of what daniel wanted, but it's better than nothing, he guesses. and coffee is tastier than tea, it at least has flavor.

jaehwan slaps daniel's thigh through the blanket and gets up. "don't go anywhere."

"like i can anyway…" daniel mutters, but jaehwan is already gone.

daniel sits up on bed, making sure the blanket is still cocooned around him. he patiently waits for jaehwan to come back, getting his phone from somewhere under him in the meanwhile and squinting at the screen to occupy himself somehow. it's getting dark outside and he has to adjust the brightness so it's neither too dim nor bright enough to hurt his eyes. there's a few new notifications, mostly from friends from university asking why he wasn't in class today. he ignores them, opening twitter instead and mindlessly scrolling through his timeline.

 

"here you go, good sir," jaehwan comes in, daniel's mug in one hand as he has his other arm behind his back.

daniel chuckles drily, chuckles turning into coughing, and accepts the mug from jaehwan once the cough dies down, ignoring the worried look on jaehwan's face. daniel takes a tentative sip, smiling slightly at the familiar taste and thanking jaehwan.

one thing daniel doesn't regret when it comes to their inability to spend money wisely, it is buying a coffee machine. daniel has had his own share of instant coffee, back at home in busan since his parents were never big fans of the drink, and at the small place he used to rent before he, seongwoo and jaehwan got their own place half a year ago. they're not rich, but money isn't as tight as it was a few years ago, so now they can afford to drink what daniel truly believes is Real Coffee. it's nice.

jaehwan pats daniel on the back suddenly, getting him out of his thoughts, and stands up to walk out of the room again.

daniel watches him come back a mere minute later, his ratty backpack in hands.

"gonna study a bit if you don't mind," jaehwan says, yawning as he throws his backpack on the spinning chair next to their small bedroom desk. "yell if you need me."

daniel rolls his eyes because they're three metres apart, and wonders why jaehwan would want to spend time with daniel and his germs when they have another desk in the living room. he then remembers there's a bunch of junk on it from when they were cleaning out their closet last week and jaehwan is probably too lazy to clean that up himself.

it's quiet for some time, even after daniel finishes his coffee and places the mug on the drawer. he settles down on bed, feeling hotter than before, and watches jaehwan write down things from the textbook before him into his notebook.

it gets boring real fast, mostly because jaehwan pays daniel no mind. it's a miracle how he's able to focus on his studies effortlessly whilst daniel gets distracted by every little thing. daniel is a tiny bit jealous.

he gets his phone, unlocking it to scroll twitter some more when watching jaehwan becomes a bore. there's nothing that catches his attention online though, and he quits the app after retweeting a few memes, ignoring woojin in his mentions roasting him for some reason.

 

daniel groans quietly, turning to lie on his back and staring into the white ceiling. he pays attention to how he's feeling, noticing with disappointment that his condition hasn't really improved after drinking coffee.

daniel thinks he even feels worse now, and he doesn't know why. he's warm, he drank plenty of hot liquids, he's resting. what else does his body need? surely, he won't get 100% healthy in just a day, but he thought that at this point he'd a feel a tiny bit better.

"jaehwannie," he whines, rubbing his swollen eyes with his knuckle, pushing down on them slightly to soothe the burn.

jaehwan hums in reply, turning his head a bit, eyes still on the textbook.

daniel turns on bed to face him. "still feel like crap," he says, rubbing the upper part of his nose now where it's itchy.

jaehwan turns to look at him, expression surprised as if daniel was supposed to get better by now. _see_ , he's not the only one who thought that.

daniel doesn't hesitate to scoot on the bed to give jaehwan space to sit down, curling into himself around jaehwan and closing his eyes when jaehwan brushes his hair back.

"i don't really know what meds to give you," he suddenly confesses, making daniel's eyes fly open.

they look at each other for a long moment before daniel closes his eyes again. it's okay, he thinks.

"i'm not even sure what kind of sick you are. is it a cold or a flu? what's the difference..." jaehwan mumbles, separating the strands of daniel's slightly greasy hair with his fingers.

it makes daniel wonder, too. he thinks he should know that kind of stuff, considering his age, but, then again, he's hopeless sometimes when it comes to such simple things. it's been proven more than once not only during the time he's been friends with jisung who knows _everything_ , but during his life in general. he thinks the flu symptoms must be worse than the cold ones, but he's not sure. it's hard to think?

he groans out loud, flopping back on the pillow and blinking his eyes open.

"you know what will help?" jaehwan suddenly asks, tapping daniel's bare arm with the tips of his fingers, almost scratching daniel's skin with how long his nails are. he doesn't even play his guitar _that_ often.

"what?" daniel murmurs, still staring at the ceiling.

"a kiss of my healing lips," jaehwan announces, laughter in his voice.

 

daniel opens his eyes to stare at jaehwan for a long moment, trying not to laugh himself at the expression on jaehwan's face. he always looks so funny when he's trying hard not to laugh.

"wontcha get sick too?" daniel asks.

"meh," jaehwan shrugs nonchalantly, as if he doesn't care whether he does get sick or not. he would probably use that as an excuse to miss class and spend more time at dongho hyung's studio.

"okay," daniel agrees eventually, groaning as he sits up and faces jaehwan.

"okey okey!"

daniel watches jaehwan close his eyes and purse his lips, arms open for daniel to lean into him. daniel scoots closer, scrunching his nose because it feels ticklish. he puts his hand on jaehwan's thigh and leans forward, eyes closing by themselves, and before he knows it, he's sneezing right in jaehwan's face.

they sit in silence, staring with wide eyes at each other for a few short moments, before jaehwan throws himself back on the bed and starts cackling.

 

"EWWWW!" he yells in-between laughter, wiggling off the bed and jumping up as he wipes his face with the sleeve of his sweatshirt. "you should've seen your sneezing face!"

daniel laughs too, ignoring the discomfort in his throat and looking around to find a napkin or something to wipe his nose with. there's a package of paper handkerchiefs on the drawer near the table daniel hasn't noticed before, and he blows his nose into one.

"that was so gross!" jaehwan says once he finally stops laughing, and sneezes.

daniel starts laughing again, settling down on bed because he's starting to feel dizzy. jaehwan whines this time, suddenly concerned about his health, getting a paper handkerchief of his own to blow his nose into it. it doesn't sound like there's anything to blow out in the first place, and daniel shakes his head.

he doesn't get to comment on jaehwan being dramatic however, because it's then when he hears the front door open.

 

"oh?" he mutters, making jaehwan look at him and then back at the slightly ajar door of the bedroom.

"i'm home!" seongwoo announces from the hallway, and both jaehwan and daniel yell out their greetings, daniel's voice breaking midway which makes jaehwan laugh until daniel pretends to sneeze on him again.

seongwoo appears in the bedroom a minute later, after washing hands, and there's a white small bag in his hands daniel notices right away.

"hey," seongwoo smiles at them, coming closer to bed and putting the bag on the drawer.

"suppp," jaehwan says, settling back on the spinning chair once seongwoo gives him a peck on the cheek.

seongwoo sits on the edge of the bed and puts his hand on daniel's forehead, pushing down on it to keep daniel in place when he tries to sit up and purses his lips to get a kiss too. the hand is soothingly cold, and daniel nuzzles into the touch once he settles back down, closing eyes briefly.

"how are you feeling?" seongwoo asks, voice gentle.

"ready to die," daniel mutters.

seongwoo clicks his tongue, withdrawing his hand and making daniel whine. he gets the bag he brought with him then, getting what appears to be medicine out of it.

"okay," he starts, showing daniel a package and tapping his nail on the box, "this you have to take once every five hours. and this," he presents a nasal spray that makes daniel shudder at the memory, "every hour or so."

"ugh," daniel groans, accepting the medicine into his arms and twisting the nasal spray box in his hand with disgust.

"don't ugh me dude," seongwoo scolds, "does you head hurt? we're out of aspirin, so here," he hands daniel a small cardboard box.

"thanks," daniel sets the medicine on the drawer.

"and here are some vitamins. read the instructions before taking them. there's also some lozenges in the bag if you start coughing," seongwoo puts the bag on the drawer and hands daniel a tube with a word 'vitamins' written across in colorful english letters.

it looks like one of those daniel's mom used to buy him when he was a kid. daniel remembers them tasting funny.

seongwoo turns to jaehwan. "did you make something for dinner?"

daniel snickers at the expression on jaehwan's face, looking down at medicine and pretending to be busy when jaehwan sends a glare in his direction.

"yeah… about that. i kinda burned it," he says, spinning in his chair nonchalantly and getting back to his textbook, pretending to be busy.

daniel watches jaehwan under his brows, suppressing a smile when he notices jaehwan is typing away on his phone that is lying next to the textbook instead of studying.

daniel sneezes again then, hands occupied with holding the vitamins tube, and laughs when seongwoo groans in disgust, wiping the wetness off his arm. it's kind of gross, daniel has to admit, but still funny.

"i'm gonna go make something to eat then," seongwoo says, getting up from bed and fishing out some clothes from the wardrobe.

he gives daniel last meaningful look, glancing at the medicine on the drawer for a second before walking out of the room, leaving the door slightly ajar. daniel looks at the bag from pharmacy, gets a bottle of mineral water out of it and finds the first box seongwoo gave him. he has to strain his eyes to read the instructions but the small letters are still unreadable, so daniel just decides to take a pill now and worry about dozes and other stuff later.

it hurts to swallow but it's easy to ignore, so daniel endures it, and pops a cherry lozenge in his mouth. he doesn't have cough but any candy is good candy, so whatever. it's not like seongwoo will scold him for taking medicine, right?

 

daniel settles down on the bed again, throwing the covers away because he's too hot. he shyly tugs the blanket over himself a few minutes later though, when he starts shivering, and just stares at the ceiling. his mouth feels weird, too dry to be normal. he guesses it must be the cold (flu?). daniel looks at the bottle on the drawer, feeling too lazy to reach for it because he's all settled down on the bed, and chooses to ignore the thirst.

he wishes seongwoo would stay next to him for longer. of course, dinner is important, but daniel needs attention. and jaehwan--

"shit," jaehwan says, turning on his chair to face daniel as he stares down at his phone.

"what?" daniel croaks, tugging the blanket over his chin.

"turns out coffee dehydrates you," jaehwan looks up, meeting daniel's eye.

"oh," daniel says, looking down on himself for a second. suddenly the thirst makes sense. daniel finally reaches his arm out, grabbing the bottle from the drawer and gulping the rest of water down.

it does feel nicer than usual, even with his sore throat. daniel hums.

there's silence before jaehwan speaks up again, concern in his voice.

"you feeling okay?"

daniel nods because, well, he's not feeling any worse than before. he's kind of still thirsty though.

"i'm gonna go refill your bottle," jaehwan says before daniel gets to say anything, standing up from the chair and walking closer to bed.

daniel obediently hands him the bottle when jaehwan comes closer. he hesitates for a second, leaning down to mutter an apology against daniel's forehead before leaving a swift kiss there and jogging out of the room. daniel laughs, resting his eyes for a second before staring off into the ceiling again.

jaehwan appears in the doorway soon enough and hands daniel a full water bottle as soon as he walks closer to the bed. daniel takes it from him and tries to drink all of it under jaehwan's watchful eye. it's harder to swallow the second half of the bottle but daniel endures it, for his own good. also because jaehwan looks like he won't leave until daniel has drunk every last drop.

daniel feels uncomfortably full now, and he places the bottle back on the drawer instead of handing it back to jaehwan in case jaehwan recognizes it as daniel asking for more.

"lemme get you some more," jaehwan says anyway, grabbing the bottle.

daniel's eyes widen.

"no!" he exclaims and holds onto jaehwan's wrist.

"dehydration is serious, niel," jaehwan explains calmly, eyebrows drawn together in a frown.

"i will explode if i drink more," daniel pleads, whining, and doesn't stop until jaehwan visibly gives up.

he tosses the bottle back on the drawer and sits down next to daniel, expression solemn.

"are you sure?" he asks, getting a nod from daniel.

they exchange a look before jaehwan sighs, patting daniel's head and getting up.

"i'll go see if hyung needs help. do you want anything?"

daniel thinks. he's hungry but he's also too full now, so no to snacks. plus, dinner is soon, he hopes. cold is cold but hunger is a bitch, and daniel is certainly feeling it now. he shakes his head and watches jaehwan as he walks out of the room, leaving daniel to his own devices yet again.

daniel lies still for some time, watching the last sun rays slide down the wall and floor until disappearing completely as the sun sets. it gets boring after that, so daniel gets his phone in hope to entertain himself. he sniffs especially hard, and pauses. he looks left to the medicine on the drawer, and reluctantly gets the nasal spray. the memory of being defeated by one is still fresh in his mind, but daniel decides to give it a try anyway.

he skips reading the instructions and sticks the nozzle up his nostril, pressing on the pump. it does spray, and daniel pushes again before moving the nozzle to the other nostril. it feels amazing once daniel blows his nose into the paper handkerchief, freeing in the most possible way when he breathes in.

"that's better," he mutters to himself, smiling at the spray and setting it back down on the drawer.

he pops another lozenge in his mouth, unlocking his phone yet again and opening app store to look for games to entertain himself with. he doesn't have any energy to do anything, but he can do as much as tap on the screen, so there's that.

the games work and daniel gets invested in them, switching from one app to another whenever he has to wait for his energy to recharge, so much he doesn't notice the door to the bedroom opening and seongwoo appearing in the doorway. when daniel does notice him, he immediately locks his phone, giving seongwoo his full attention.

seongwoo has already changed, and daniel feels cold just looking at his bare arms. forget he's wearing a t-shirt too under all the blankets, that doesn't matter since, y'know, _blankets_. daniel looks up to seongwoo's face instead, lips stretching into a small smile.

seongwoo is wearing the innisfree headband he got with his mask collection that was generously gifted to him on his birthday by one of his actor friends. he looks exceptionally cute in it, and there's a feeling in daniel's chest that makes him drop the phone next to him so he can reach out his arms towards seongwoo, wordlessly asking for a hug.

much to daniel's disappointment, seongwoo doesn't fall into his arms but instead sits next to him on bed, the same place jaehwan sat on. seongwoo does hold daniel's hand however, so daniel doesn't dare complain.

 

"how do you feel?" seongwoo asks, smiling with the corners of his lips despite the apparent concern in his eyes.

"better now," daniel replies coyly.

"because i'm here, right?" seongwoo grins, "knew it."

he pumps his fist victoriously, drawing a short laugh out of daniel that expectedly turns into cough.

there's a brief pause then, and seongwoo is the one to speak up after a moment.

"you didn't go to class… right?" he asks, frowning down at their joined hands as he plays with daniel's thumb.

daniel is aware that they both know if he did go to class, he wouldn't have been home for another hour. he remembers times he would get annoyed at a question like that, always reminded of the way his father would suspect and scold him for every little thing. there was mistrust between them, but right now, with seongwoo, daniel knows it's just concern. he's gotten considerably better at differencing the two over the years.

he squeezes seongwoo's hand in his.

"seongwoo, 'm not out of my mind," he says, sniffing and then pointing at his own nose as if to prove he'd be mad for going out with that going on.

 

truth be told, his cold isn't that bad, but daniel did feel too drained in the morning. even if he managed to somehow find energy to go through the day, he highly doubts he'd be in a good enough shape to suck up knowledge, mind too clouded with fever. with rain added to the picture, his condition would've worsened if he went out. but that doesn't matter now.

seongwoo nods at him, the crease between his brows smoothing out. he lets go of daniel's hand, busying himself with tucking the loose end of the blanket under daniel. he pats daniel's head once he's done, smoothing out his hair so it's not as messy.

the gentleness in seongwoo's moves warms daniel heart, and he has to force himself not to lean up and kiss seongwoo's cheek, mindful of his germs. he's kind of worried about jaehwan already, he doesn't want to endanger seongwoo's health as well.

he watches seongwoo organize the medicine on the drawer, turning on his side and pressing his cheek against his palm lying on the pillow as he does so. seongwoo is not the one to clean every little mess up unless it's getting in the way, that's more of a minhyun thing, but daniel guesses seongwoo is in one of those moods today. maybe the mess on the kitchen enabled it.

"be right back," seongwoo says, patting daniel's head again and moving to leave the room, empty bottle in hand.

daniel whines lowly and pouts, allowing himself to be childish because he's enjoying the company too much. seongwoo just turns back to give him an amused look, continuing on his way.

he does get right back, and there's a small dark towel in his hands. he sits back at the edge of the bed and turns to daniel, carefully placing the towel on his forehead. it's cold, and wet, and makes daniel shiver, but it also feels sort of nice, so he stays still, sans moving his hand to wipe away a drop of water running down his temple.

daniel doesn't think he has high temperature, but he guesses it wouldn't hurt to have something cool him down a little bit.

"hwannie made a mess out of our kitchen," seongwoo says suddenly, chuckling, once he makes sure the towel is placed securely on daniel's forehead and won't slide down.

it draws out a faint laugh out of daniel. that sounds like jaehwan.

"did you save the yukgaejang?" he asks, clearing his throat.

seongwoo makes a surprised noise as he grabs the first medicine box he has given daniel earlier, fishing out the instructions.

"so that's what it was supposed to be," he jokes, scanning the small bluish paper with his eyes.

 

daniel chuckles, nodding even though seongwoo isn't looking at him. there's silence as seongwoo focuses on inspecting the instructions, and daniel spaces out, thinking about food and trying to decide whether he hates the idea of eating right now or not.

he almost startles when seongwoo moves, folding the paper and shoving it back inside the box clumsily.

"take another pill after dinner, okay?" he says, getting up and adjusting the towel on daniel's forehead slightly.

daniel nods and decides to trust seongwoo and not question him, even though he does remember seongwoo saying to take the pill every six (five?) hours. maybe because--

"do you wanna eat here or in the kitchen?" seongwoo interrupts daniel's lazy flow of thoughts.

daniel makes a face at the thought of moving but then thinks about how he will most likely spill something on himself or the bed.

"kitchen," he says, grabbing his phone once again when seongwoo nods and leaves the room, presumably to get back to dinner and make sure jaehwan doesn't screw it over.

not that jaehwan is daniel level bad at kitchen. daniel is awful and knows it.

 

 

he gets sucked back into playing the games he's downloaded and only stops switching between apps lazily when his eyes start to hurt. daniel locks his phone and carefully places it on the drawer, sitting up. he rubs his eyes, repeats the nasal spray procedure, and checks the time on his phone after for the lack of things to do.

his eyes widen at the fact that it's almost eight in the evening. he didn't do anything yet the day has already passed somehow, and realization makes daniel lean to the side and bury his face in the blanket. the last time daniel felt quite so useless was back god knows when, and the feeling isn't welcome one bit.

daniel beats himself up for some time for getting sick, and just as he throws the blankets away to get up and go to kitchen, the door to the bedroom flies open.

it's jaehwan, unsurprisingly.

 

"let's go eat you fool," he says, hands on hips as he looks at daniel expectedly.

daniel groans, pretending to be too hurt to move as he plops down on bed, face twisted in imaginary pain. he opens one eye to glance at jaehwan, who looks extremely amused, and leans back on the blanket as if he's injured and suffering.

jaehwan doesn't make any move to help daniel out, so daniel gets up on his own, pouting as he grabs the nasal spray off the drawer, and walks past jaehwan out of the room. jaehwan snorts when daniel passes him but doesn't follow him for some reason, disappearing into the bedroom. daniel looks back at him for a moment, confused, but continues on his way, following the faint scent of food that his for once clear nose is able to catch.

 

for some reason it feels significantly warmer now, and daniel doesn't regret not bringing a blanket with him. seongwoo is getting their kimchi bucket out of the fridge, turning to give daniel a smile as he sits at the kitchen table.

daniel's mug is filled with what looks like tea and he immediately takes a sip, whining out loud when the hot liquid burns his tongue.

"careful," seongwoo says, putting the kimchi into a small bowl.

daniel sticks his tongue at him behind his back, getting his legs on the chair and making himself comfortable with ease. there are bowls with some kind of reddish soup daniel doesn't immediately recognize. it smells spicy when daniel inhales the steam from it, and daniel's stomach makes an upset sound.

daniel pats his navel, turning to wistfully follow the drinks seongwoo is placing on the table for himself and jaehwan. it's two bottles of aloe vera drink seongwoo got obsessed with recently and coke, and daniel wishes he could drink those instead. he already misses the flavor and it's only day one of being sick. the thought makes his mood drop slightly.

jaehwan gets back from the bedroom then, having changed into a sweater, and pats daniel's head as he walks past him to his designated seat, picking up his chopsticks and spoon, not wasting any time before starting eating. when seongwoo finally sits down as well, daniel digs in too.

they eat in silence for some time before seongwoo makes a sound as if he's just remembered something and, as he keeps chewing and shoving food in his mouth, starts complaining about this rude guy he's met when he went to get coffee in the morning.

jaehwan gets into it pretty fast as well, and it gets heated quickly, jaehwan sharing his own experience of dealing with some jerk at the university a few days before. daniel would've participated but it's hard to follow the topic, so he gives up, choosing to stuff his mouth with more soup instead.

it's spicy and tasty when daniel doesn't focus on the uncomfortable feeling in his throat every time he swallows, and he guesses seongwoo must have managed to save jaehwan's burned yukgaejang.

daniel zones out slowly, head feeling heavier with each minute, and at some point freezes in place, chopsticks halfway into the bowl. daniel's mind registers the sound of chat quieting down, but the question asked by jaehwan doesn't filter in right away.

daniel snaps out of it when seongwoo touches his arm, and looks up, surprised. both seongwoo and jaehwan are staring at him worryingly. daniel manages an awkward smile, taking another bite of his beef.

"you okay?" jaehwan asks, chewing with his mouth open.

"ergh, don't be gross," seongwoo scolds, lightly hitting jaehwan's chin from below with two of his fingers.

"yeah, 'm alright..." daniel says, letting go of his spoon to rub his eye and take a sip of the tea.

it doesn't go well with spicy beef, but it's something to drink. daniel would've preferred some cool water instead, or coke, or even seongwoo's weird aloe stuff, but it's not an option.

"sleep early tonight, okay?" seongwoo says, not looking up from his food.

daniel sends him a smile, less awkward this time, and catches jaehwan's eye. daniel makes a face at him and jaehwan rolls his eyes, making daniel laugh. he, of course, starts coughing, almost tipping over his mug as he reaches to take another sip.

it makes both seongwoo and jaehwan snort, and after that the rest of the dinner is pretty uneventful.

 

daniel, despite his illness, finishes two bowls to the sound of seongwoo and jaehwan chatting. he feels too hot from all the heat and spice, but also strangely refreshed and positively sated.

he automatically gets up to wash their plates and utensils once he's done, but jaehwan shoos him away, rolling up his sleeves to do the dishes himself. jaehwan isn't one for cleaning, but at least seongwoo managed to train him to do as much as wash dishes.

seongwoo makes daniel another cup of tea, and tries to send him off back to bedroom with gentle hands on his back.

 

"nooo," daniel whines, leaning back into seongwoo instead, making himself heavier.

"you need rest," seongwoo tries to reason.

"i wanna hang out with you guys," daniel whines again, twisting out of seongwoo's half-hold half-push and plopping back down on his seat.

seongwoo stares him down for a few moments but soon realizes that daniel won't move. he makes an exaggeratedly angry face at daniel and leaves the kitchen, not before aggressively ruffling daniel's hair.

daniel settles on his chair, both feet off the floor as he watches jaehwan be a good boyfriend. jaehwan isn't paying any attention to him though, so daniel turns to stare out of the window, making a surprised sound when he notices it's raining again.

he shivers, thinking of how unpleasant it is outside, and grabs his hot mug to take a generous sip.

"how did you even manage to get sick?" seongwoo asks from the hallway, voice raised.

daniel hums and thinks.

"i don't really kno'" he says, playing with the loose thread on his sweatpants.

 

to be frank, daniel has no idea. the day before was pretty warm for october and daniel remembers he wore a hoodie, one of his thick ones. it was a bit chilly in a lecture hall he was in during one of his classes, but it couldn't have been it. could it?

"don't tell your mom, she'll be worried," jaehwan suggests, rinsing off one of the bowls and placing it on the dish holder.

daniel hums again, sipping on his tea, and it's quiet again.

"can't believe you're first to get sick this year," jaehwan says as seongwoo walks into the kitchen.

he turns off the tap and props his hip against the counter to face daniel, wiping his wet hands on the kitchen towel.

there's a smirk on jaehwan's face, "such a loser."

 

daniel is about to retort, turning on his chair to jaehwan, but doesn't get to say a word as jaehwan sneezes, loud and hard, bending in half.

there's silence, and then jaehwan sneezes again, sending daniel into a half-cackling half-coughing fit.

"i can't fucking believe this," seongwoo mutters.

**Author's Note:**

> catch me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/nxxcity), consider buying me a [coffee](http://ko-fi.com/bvssbot) as thanks and send something to my [curious cat](https://curiouscat.me/buttholer)


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